Idiot
by St. Harridan
Summary: Kenpachi is sick and tired of her antics, but he just can't bring himself to leave the brat despite how much he wants to... Or does he even want to leave in the first place?


**I'd been watching the flashback of Kenpachi and Yachiru's past and I've been brain-dead lately and...this is what happens. Present tense experiment and lots of cuss words.**

**Edit (26 April 2011): Edited the ending.**

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><p><span>Idiot<span>

"Stay put'n don't move, Yachiru… That's it – _no_, ye dumbass, I said-" and Kenpachi suppresses a growl as he wades out of the stream to shoo the child away. She plops down, staring up at him with wide, inquisitive eyes, a fore finger in her mouth. He gestures with his foot, willing her to go back, but she doesn't seem to understand him - or she's merely ignoring him. Mentally strangling her, Kenpachi picks her up by the armpits, walks a ways from the stream and puts her back down.

"Stay. Here. Understand?" He jabs at the ground, like a man who has just lost a lottery ticket. "Jus' stay put and _don't_ move. I won't take long. Ye can see me clearly anyway." He points at the stream. "I'm jus' goin' t'get some food, all right? Keep buggin' me an' we won't have any food an' ye'll start bawlin' yer fuckin' eyes out. If that happens, an' if ye die of hunger, don't blame me, got it?"

After a second thought, he takes off his haori and drapes it over her, partly to keep her busy and to also shield her from unwanted attention. Gods know what bandits would do with a child like her.

He returns to the stream, leaving her to fiddle around with his haori, and stops when he's waist-deep in the water. Holding his breath, he goes under and, with eyes open, starts hunting for fish.

When he surfaces a few minutes later, a pair of flopping fish in each hand, he turns to the shore to check whether Yachiru is still there.

She isn't.

He flings the fish onto the shore and splashes out, so hurriedly that he doesn't even have time to curse when he nearly slips on a smooth stone. Eyes wildly scanning the area, he finally sees something very much familiar floating on the surface of the stream, not far from where he used to be.

It's his torn haori.

He dives back in and searches underwater for her. It takes a moment or two before he catches sight of a small, curled up figure. He takes her in his arms, tugging the seam of her kimono free from being trapped to a sharp-edged rock, and kicks to the surface.

"Ken-chan!" The first thing she does is poke him in the eye, giggling as he shakes his head to rid his vision of water, but he isn't as amused as she is by her little underwater adventure.

He storms onto the shore, tight-lipped, and when he sets her down, he finally turns his glare unto her.

"_What _in the flyin' fuck's _name_ were ye' tryin' t'prove out _there_, ye lil' brat?" he bellows, fists trembling with fury. "If I'd been in there longer than I was, ye'd be nothin' but a floatin' piece o' shit waitin' for some asshole t'come eat ye. If I didn't see where ye'd gone, ye'd fuckin' _drown_, an' d'ye know what _that _means?"

He ignores the moisture welling up in her eyes, ignores the way her bottom lip trembles.

"Means ye'd fuckin' _die_!"

And she bursts into tears.

"Like I fuckin' care what ye're bawlin' 'bout!" He snatches his haori out from the water and puts it on regardless of how wet it is. "Fuckin' nuisance. The fuck was I thinkin' when I thought 'bout bringin' ye along with me? Messed up shit gods!"

Leaving his catch on the ground, he turns his back on her and strides away. He tries hard to block out her wails as they grow louder and louder with each step he takes, reminding himself that this is the perfect moment to just let her go her own way.

Besides, she isn't really _his_ responsibility. He's not her father. He's not even related to her in _any _way, so what does he have to do with her?

Nothing.

_That's right. Nothing. _

One step, and she starts calling his name, "Ken-chan!"

_Dumbass nickname. It's _Ken-pa-chi, _not some sissy-ass "Ken-chan" or whatever the shit ye call it. It's Ken. Pa. Chi. _

"Ken-_chaaan_!"

_Brat. _But he feels an unfamiliar ache in his chest right then and there, causing his pace to slow a little. He catches himself, puzzled for a moment, but he brushes the thought away and moves faster.

"_Keeen-chaaan_!"

_Keep walkin', keep walkin', don't look back. _Another stab, worse than before. _Fuck it. Fuck. It. _

He grits his teeth. "Fuck you, runt. Jus' shut up already!" _Shut the fuck up and make things easier for me, goddamn ye._

"K-K-_Keeen- _ch-ch-_chaaan_!"

Against his own will, he risks a look back. She's trying to catch up to him, crawling on her hands and knees. Her kimono gets stuck at one point, and she falls flat on her face, but she gets up again and tries to stand. Her balance isn't so good, and she falls on her backside and cries harder.

He swallows, quickens his pace, staring at the ground as he walks away. He wishes he can just clamp a hand over her mouth so that she'll stop making those irritating, _irritating _noises. They grate on his nerves, they make him want to grind his teeth together, they pierce a thousand blades into him and rip his heart out.

_Don't look back, don't look back. Don't. Look. Back. Don't… Don't. No. Don't. Do- What the _fuck _are ye _doin'_? _

And he turns around, marches back to her, squeezes the water out of his haori, picks her up and wraps her in it.

She stops crying altogether, reduced to little sobs, and stares up at him with her wide eyes. They are bright with tears.

Out of his own accord, he wipes a fresh drop away with his thumb. She blinks, cocking her head to the side, and he can't help but chuckle when she hiccups.

She stares at him. He stares back at her, and the awkward silence is only shattered by her growling stomach.

"I want eat," she says, as if she hasn't been wailing just moments before.

He lets out a sigh, unconsciously tightening his hold around her. "All right, all right."

_Ye're a fuckin' idiot, Zaraki Kenpachi. _

But for once, as she settles herself on his shoulders and starts pulling his hair like _reins_, he finds that being an idiot isn't so bad after all.

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><p><strong>A review would be nice. :)<strong>


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